Meng Issues Statement On Wave Of Threats And Attacks Against The Jewish Community

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) Tuesday issued the following statement on the wave of threats and attacks against the Jewish community.

“This week alone, eleven Jewish community centers across the country were targeted with bomb threats, including one in Buffalo. In St. Louis, vandals damaged more than 100 headstones in a historic Jewish cemetery. Some headstones belonged to Holocaust survivors. My heart breaks to see these vicious acts of anti-Semitism, and I believe that Congress must not only denounce these heinous acts, but do everything in its power to prevent them.

Jewish community centers and facilities continue to be vulnerable to hate crimes, which is why I consistently support increased funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which provides eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations with funding support for target-hardening and other physical security enhancements and activities. I’m proud that a number of institutions in Queens have been able to use this program, and I encourage all eligible organizations, in Queens and around the country, to apply.

No one should have to see the gravesite of a loved one or a community member vandalized, a principle I fought for in my first term. I worked to amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the desecration of cemeteries abroad as an infringement on the right to freedom of religion. I am grateful that this is now law.

One bomb threat is one too many. One vandalized headstone is an attack on them all. We must fight against the rising tide of anti-Semitism in whatever form it takes.”